Jacobus van Nierop's patient: 'Everything was infected'

CBC

A former patient of a Dutch dentist arrested in New Brunswick this week and wanted in France for allegedly performing a series of grotesque botched procedures on patients, says she’s still trying to recover from the trauma.

Jacobus Van Nierop, 50, was caught in Nackawic on Monday. He has been wanted in France since December on charges of violence causing mutilation or permanent disability, an Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada decision states.

During an Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada detention review hearing on Friday morning van Nierop said he killed his wife in the Netherlands in 2006.

Margret Unenje, who lives in France, says she was shocked to learn he had been caught in a small Canadian town.

The Dutch woman says van Nierop insisted she have all of her fillings replaced, even though she had no issues. Once that was done, she developed an infection because she says the tools he used were dirty.

“Everything was infected. It hurt, it hurt,” she told CBC's As it Happens.

“I am now for two years with another dentist. He is trying to remake, to rebuild, everything he has destroyed.”

She says her eldest child was also a victim and is still afraid to go to the dentist.

Even then, Unenje says she was one of the lucky ones.

“I learned that other stories are even worse. People from 80 years old he had pulled off all their teeth and put in dentures,” she said.

“They have been to hospital and everything. People now, for their lives, they can't put anything in their mouth.”

Living in N.B. for about 8 months

Unenje says many people are in debt because they had to pay cash.

Van Nierop had been practising in Château-Chinon in the Burgundy region of France since 2008.

Unenje says officials originally ignored her complaints.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

Van Nierop arrived in Canada on Dec. 18, 2013, and was admitted as a visitor for six months, the immigration decision states. There is no indication that he applied for an extension and none was granted.

On Monday, RCMP contacted the Canada Border Services Agency about van Nierop and the existence of a "red notice" from Interpol about him, the hearing was told.

The border agency and RCMP officers tracked him down at an apartment in Nackawic, where area residents told CBC News he had been living for about eight months.

Van Nierop, who is also known as Mark, remains in custody in Shediac and is entitled to another review hearing within a week.